Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Food and Drug Administration.
2025-05-22
Source: Congress.gov
Participants
Transcript
I'd like to start by thanking our witnesses. Stephen Nordhaus, the chief of the National Guard Bureau. Lieutenant General Robert Harder, the Chief of Army Reserve. My understanding is that Vice Admiral Corr is unable to testify this morning due to an illness. We obviously hope she recovers quickly. Welcome Rear Admiral Luke Frost, Director, Reserve Warfare, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, in her absence. Lieutenant General Lonnie Anderson, Commander of the Marine Forces Reserve, and Lieutenant General John Healey, the Chief of Air Force Reserves. Subcommittee is grateful for your service to our nation, and we look forward to hearing your candid testimony. Our discussion today will be oriented toward the President's budget request for fiscal year 2026. The exact details of the request have not been received yet, but the top line summary released by the Office of Management and Budget gives proponents of robust national defense plenty to be concerned about already. Annual top-line investment in the Department of Defense is a measure of our national will. It sends a message to allies and adversaries alike about the strength of our resolve, and it appears that the message of the coming year is one of weakness.
Nobody in this room needs a reminder of how much the Department relies on stable and predictable funding to drive the crucial functions of development, acquisitions, and procurement. Nor is anyone here naive to the increasingly coordinated forces that threaten to undermine U.S. interests around the world. But when we talk about the consequences of shortchanging our armed forces, We have to recognize that these effects are often compounding for the Guard and Reserve. And the harder we have to scrape for funding to meet unfunded requirements of the Department of Defense, the harder it'll be to support the growing needs of the Guard and Reserve. Despite playing an increasingly significant operational role, Guard and Reserve units still struggle to access top-of-the-line kit. Despite so often taking the lead in engagement with allies and partner forces, they face persistent hurdles in maintaining adequate infrastructure, equipment, and personnel. The current strategic landscape and operational realities give us no reason to suspect that the demand for highly trained, well-equipped citizen service members is going to diminish anytime soon. Last year, it was the Guardsmen, including Kentuckians, defending Tower 22 from the Iran-backed attack and sustaining casualties in the process, adding new missions without adequate resourcing constrain guard units' training calendars. I'll be interested in the witnesses' candid observations on these headwinds impacting readiness.
This is the first Defense Appropriations subcommittee hearing fiscal year 2026. It is very unusual to hold a budget hearing without a budget. The President's annual budget request is required by law. Understandably, it typically lags in the first year of any new administration, but the Department of Defense, I'm told, is not likely to submit its detailed budget materials until next month, which will make this one of the most delayed budgets ever. Meanwhile, our troops continue to operate under a full year continuing resolution for the very first time in history. That legislation also cut billions of dollars in defense spending for the first time in recent memory. I should note the Senate was ready to end fiscal year 2025 in December, ready to enact, I'm sorry, fiscal year 2025 appropriations in December. The speaker refused and the incoming administration did not object to a continuing resolution and its impact on DOD, which we warned about. So my message to my colleagues and the department is this, we need to stop making budget history. I firmly believe the chairman and I can craft a reasonable consensus defense appropriation bill with the help of our subcommittee members to provide what our troops need and deserve. Chairman McConnell and I see eye to eye about the challenges we face from Russia, China, DPRK, and Iran, on the importance of supporting and engaging with our allies around the world, on the need to strengthen innovation, invest in the defense base, and improve munitions production. I also firmly believe that Chair Collins and Vice Chair Murray can reach an agreement to fund the entire government in a responsible way if others will put aside fringe ideas about unlimited presidential power and radical budget cuts.
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